Day 9: Great friends, Pizza and cookies...

5.20 am this morning, the alarm goes off…I am feeling a relief because I can’t hear rain, fantastic! I am not really in pain but my legs feel kind of stiff... After a good warm up at the Exploratorium, everyone got a resistance band and the group did an “Indian run” to get down to Crissy Field. We stopped for some “push up burpees” on the way. At the beach, we did more push ups, mountain climbers, sun salutations, sprints, dogsleds, more push ups, more dog sleds, exercises for the arms and upper body using the resistance band and a couple of really painful (=efficient) exercises for the abs. It all happens so fast, there is almost no break in between the exercises which is great because even though I am in pain, I don’t even have time to think about it because the next task has started already. After all this, we ran back to the parking lot. I think I did a little better with the running today even though I was the last person again, but the gap between me and the other people in the group was a lot smaller compared to the other days (unfortunately, the new girl didn’t show up today…). It started raining at 7 am for the rest of the day...perfect timing!

One thing I do like about bootcamp is that the people are really nice and many of the exercises are done in teams of two, so you automatically get to know new people and possibly make friends (the pain ties you together…). I feel like everyone cares and respects the fellow bootcampers, there is a really good vibe amongst everyone. Our trainers constantly motivate us and also push us (without yelling…), I think they are doing a great job. They also run back and forth in between the group when we are running, so I never feel lost when I am at the very end of the group, they watch out for me. It was a great full-body workout this morning in a beautiful setting, but now I start to feel sore and I think even though I took a shower, I still have sand in my ears…

In respect to food, today turned out to be a little bit tricky…I had some high fiber cereal, low fat milk and a banana for breakfast - that was the good part. For the rest of the day I have been eating “socially” which means I had great company but also way too much food. But sometimes you just have to live by the moment! I was invited for lunch (as a belated birthday present) to Crepevine in Burlingame. Hmmm, I love their tuna melt and their roasted potatoes! But I tried to be good and ordered a salad with grilled salmon. I ate a lot more then I should have but it certainly was the better choice (I even managed to ignore the baguette and butter that came with the salad). It was delicious! Tonight I faced a second challenge… I met friends for dinner and they bought pizza...another friend joined and she brought what she called “the best cookies ever”. I had two slices of veggie pizza and half a cookie…the cookie really wasn’t planned but after all, it had to travel all the way from New York City to San Francisco, I had to try it. It had chocolate chips and walnut pieces in it, it certainly was the best cookie I ever had. But probably also because I didn’t have any sweets the last 8 days…At least I didn't drink any alcohol, you always have to see the positive side of things..I had a great evening with great friends !

9 days down, 33 to go! Today wasn’t really a "perfect" day as far as my nutrition is concerned. I made poor food choices but I had a great time with my friends, it was worth every calorie :)